Mage and the World of Darkness, or "Vampires and Werewolves and Wraiths, Oh My!"

Shared universes are becoming a big thing in movies these days (thanks, Marvel!) but they've been around for a long, long time. Comic books are the most prolific form of the shared universe, but this concept also extends to books, TV shows and, yes, even tabletop games. So, let's talk about Mage: The Ascension and its place in the shared universe known as the World of Darkness.

Established in its flagship game, Vampire: The Masquerade, back in good old 1991, the World of Darkness (hereby abbreviated as WoD) came to be known as the collective setting that united White Wolf's various supernatural-themed game lines. Flavored heavily as gothic-punk urban horror, the WoD is commonly described as being a dark mirror reflection of our own world, one where supernatural creatures lurk in the shadows, preying on humanity while warring with each other. The animosity between vampires and werewolves was established early on, with additional game lines contributing much more to the fabric of that setting. Put another way, Vampire established the cityscape, Werewolf: The Apocalypse explored the wilderness and spirit world, Mage added a lot more layers to the spirit world and fundamental underpinnings of reality, Wraith: The Oblivion expanded on the underworld, and Changeling: The Dreaming explored the fae connections. Other game lines filled in the details of certain specialized areas like historical eras, other creatures such as mummies and demons, and the few humans who worked with or against these creatures.

So, how does the World of Darkness figure into a Mage game?

That's entirely up to you, really. There's nothing that says that you have to include vampires, werewolves, or anything beyond the spiritual denizens and realms described in the core rulebook. For that matter, the vampires you use in your game don't have to line up with those featured in Vampire, nor do your werewolves, fae, ghosts or any other supernatural type that has its own gameline.

Conversely, you can pick and choose how much of the WoD beyond Mage is applicable to your game. Maybe vampires as presented in Vampire don't fit your game, but you like the idea of Wraith's Shadowlands denizens and Changeling's Dreaming realms. Maybe you don't want to use Werewolf's Garou Tribes, but you want to pepper your game with the other Changing Breeds. Maybe the vampire interactions in your game begin and end with the Tremere, fallen Hermetic House that they are, or maybe none of that happened in your Mage. The possibilities to mix and match are endless!

Or maybe your Mage game just has mages. That's cool, too!

These days, I keep things firmly focused on Mage in my own campaigns, only lightly touching on the other supernatural types populating the World of Darkness. Thanks to integrating Critical Role's Vampire one-shot into my setting, my players have briefly encountered vampires due to the Geek & Sundry tragedy, and they're aware that other supernatural creatures are out there as well. My Chakravanti player has crossed over to the Shadowlands with his mentor and interacted with the wraiths who populate that realm, but wouldn't know a Deathlord from Steve, and I intend to keep it that way. Clans and Tribes and such have not been mentioned, and likely won't be, to avoid cluttering my game with non-Mage lore that has no real bearing on my players or the story we're telling.

Additionally, the flavor of my World of Darkness has evolved beyond the "gothic-punk" of White Wolf's heyday. It borrows far more from urban fantasy than anything else, with more psychological types of horror and a touch of cinematic flair. Mage in my World of Darkness is filled with wondrous things, sometimes frightening, sometimes awe-inspiring, and always crawling beneath the surface of the mundane. Spirits are everywhere, if you know where to look, and mages can venture into realms beyond imagining where they can interact with thought given form. My Mage is one of infinite possibility, but also infinite danger, and a careless misstep could spell disaster for even the most skilled master.

And sometimes, I throw something really creepy at my players...

When it comes down to it, your World of Darkness might not look anything like mine. It might be more of a futuristic dystopia, or a medieval wonderland, or might omit the "darkness" part altogether. Mage can be whatever you want it to be. The only question you have to ask yourself is, how does the World of Darkness figure into YOUR Mage game?

I'm primarily a Mage Storyteller, but I've run Vampire, Changeling, Hunter: The Reckoning, and Dark Ages: Vampire, and played in all of the others except for Demon: The Fallen. If you've got questions on how to integrate them - or any other World of Darkness game - into your Mage game, drop them into the comments below and I'll tackle them as soon as I can!